


Ultimatum

by coraxes



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: 68-69 spoilers, F/M, Fluff, I Had To, stuck in a closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 22:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8178739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coraxes/pseuds/coraxes
Summary: “Listen, I didn’t want to have to do this,” said Scanlan, “but also I really wanted to do this.  Vex, tell Percy what you said at the resurrection.  I’ll be back in two hours.  Have fun, kids!”





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know, y'all. Probably too fluffy, but idc. Now with comment fic!

“Percy?”

 

The voice shook Percy out of his tinkering reverie.  He glanced up from the dissected remains of one of Ripley’s rifles, blinking behind his glasses, to look at his visitors.

 

Vex wasn’t a surprise--she visited his workshop more often than anyone else--but Scanlan was.  The gnome was bouncing on his toes, hands behind his back.  Percy looked at Vex, eyebrows raised, but she only shrugged;  _ I’m as confused as you are.   _

 

“What’s going on, Scanlan?  I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

 

“You can’t be that busy; we just got here!”  Scanlan waved a hand, dismissing Percy’s reply in advance.  “Whatever, this is important.  I need to show you two something.”

 

Percy glanced at Vex again.  Now she seemed distinctly suspicious, crossing her arms and frowning at the top of the gnome’s head.  “Do you know what this is about, Vex?  I’d rather have a better explanation than  _ that. _ ”

 

Scanlan snorted.  “Really, you two?  After all we’ve been through, you can trust me.  Anyway, this is the sort of thing you need to see to believe.”  At their hesitation, he added, “You’ll love it, I  _ promise. _ ”

 

Percy sighed and wiped his sooty hands on his trousers.  “Alright, alright, fine.”  He couldn’t imagine what in the mansion would be so important and urgent as to need all three of them, but perhaps Grog was doing something entertaining.  His joints protested as he rose, still not quite recovered from his resurrection despite two days of rest in Whitestone castle.  

 

Vex offered him her elbow with a wink, like a gentleman to a lady, and Percy chuckled as he slipped his arm through hers.  “Thank you, dear.”

 

From the corner of his eye, Percy saw Scanlan grinning.  Then he waved them toward the door.  “Come on, guys, it’s this way.”

 

The gnome led them down a maze of halls that Percy was fairly certain had not been there before.  Few of the ghostly servants roamed the halls, and there were no signs of life from other members of Vox Machina.  Finally they reached a door which Scanlan opened, revealing only a dark room, and waved them in.  “It’s in here.  You guys go in, I’ll get the light.”

 

Bemused, Percy and Vex entered, Percy’s hand still on Vex’s outstretched elbow.

 

The door swung shut behind them, leaving them both in the dark.

 

“Scanlan!” Vex shrieked, and then they heard the click of a lock.

 

“Listen, I didn’t want to have to do this,” said Scanlan, “but also I really wanted to do this.  Vex, tell Percy what you said at the resurrection.  I’ll be back in two hours.  Have fun, kids!”

 

“Scanlan, be reasonable,” said Percy, but the gnome cut him off.

 

“No,  _ you  _ be reasonable.  Sit tight and use protection.”

 

_ What,  _ thought Percy.  He stared in disbelief at Vex--well, in Vex’s direction, his eyes had yet to adjust--as the sound of Scanlan’s footsteps faded away.

 

“That little  _ shit, _ ” said Vex after a moment.  Her arm ripped from Percy’s grasp, and he felt her brush against him as she turned to the door.  “Gods damn it, I don’t have my lockpicks…”  He heard a muffled thud, probably her fist pounding against the door.  

 

“What’s going on here, Vex?  What did you do at the resurrection?”  His heart pounded in his chest.  He hadn’t thought of it before, but she was clearly keeping something from him.  What price had his friend paid to bring him back?

 

If Vex had--if she had done something--

 

He had told her once before that if she had truly been gone, he could not have lived with himself.  If she had sacrificed something to bring him back from the dead...he wasn’t worth that.  Percy’s mind flickered through the possibilities.  It could not be Orthax, Keyleth had seen to that, but there were other things…

 

She had gone still where she crouched on the ground.  His eyes had adjusted enough to see her silhouette in the low light from under the door, and he sat down next too her.  “Vex,” he said, voice low.  “Please tell me you didn’t make a deal with something.  Or, or, give something up…”

 

“No, of course not.”  She reached out a hand and rubbed his knee, and Percy caught it.  “All I gave up was my best diamond.”

 

He could hear the smile in her voice.  Percy released his anxious breath.  “Oh thank god.”

 

Vex made a small noise of affirmation, her thumb stroking the side of his bare hand; the sensation was so distracting that it took Percy a moment to realize that left a question unanswered.  He tried very hard not to let himself realize that in the dark, he could feel the warmth of her body, hear each breath.  Percy cleared his throat.  “So what  _ did  _ Scanlan mean, then?”

 

She tensed.  “It was only something I said, Percy.  It’s not important.”

 

“It must be important, if Scanlan’s getting himself involved,” Percy said, frowning.  “Vex, dear, you know you can tell me.  Besides, it sounds like everyone else knows already.”

 

Vex sighed and relaxed from her crouch to sit cross-legged on the floor.  “I suppose they do,” she said reluctantly.  “If I don’t tell you, then someone else will.”

 

She paused for so long that Percy thought she was done speaking, and then let out a small, pained little chuckle.  “It was just so easy at the time--I thought perhaps once you came back, you would remember.  Of course…”

 

“I don’t.”  He edged closer to her.  She couldn’t mean what he thought, surely; not with  _ him.   _ Still...Percy couldn’t begin to think of what  _ else  _ she might mean.  He did not want to get his hopes up, but his hopes were not listening to him at the moment.  “But now I’m beginning to wish I did.”

 

“No, you don’t; I was a bit of a mess.”  Vex gave one of her false laughs.  “I suppose the relevant part is…”  She took a deep breath.  “You remember what I told Saundor.  Why I could not give him my heart.”

 

“Of course.”  Truth be told, he had spent entirely too much time thinking about it.  Perhaps she had meant her brother, or Trinket, or all of them had it; perhaps she was in love with Zahra or Pike or Jarett.  But he had hoped…

 

Percy’s mouth was suddenly very dry.

 

“I said...I said that I should have told you while you were alive.  I said it belongs to you.”

 

For one moment, Percy’s brain was completely still.

 

Vex had given him her heart.  Vex was--Vex, who flirted with him and kissed him and called him  _ darling,  _ but he had never thought she  _ meant  _ it--

 

He didn’t know if he deserved this.  Scratch that; he knew that he did  _ not  _ deserve this, that Vex did not deserve to be burdened with someone like him.  But she had seen him at his worst, and she loved him anyway--

 

“Oh,” said Percy.  He had always been good with words, but at the moment his words seemed to fail him.

 

“That’s it?  _ Oh _ ?”  Her voice had gone high-pitched and hurt, and too late Percy realized what exactly that sounded like.

 

“Forgive me,” he said.  “What I meant was, oh, that’s a relief, I’ve been in love with you for quite some time now.”

 

It felt freeing to finally say the words.  Percy had never admitted to it--never so much as admitted to a crush, no matter how his siblings had teased him when he was younger--but telling Vex felt like lifting off a weight. 

 

“...Oh,” said Vex.

 

There was a pause, and then they both burst into laughter.

 

“I’m still going to kill Scanlan for this, though,” said Percy when he could talk again, wiping his eyes.

 

“I’ll grab him, you shoot.”

 

“It’s a deal.”  Percy lifted Vex’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles absentmindedly, glad he was  _ allowed  _ to, at last.  He had never been one for casual affection, not the way she was, and every gesture from his end felt more significant.

 

He paused, her hand at his lips, and said, “I would very much like to kiss you right now.”

 

“Yes,” said Vex, and yanked him forward.

 

It was awkward at first, both of them leaning too far out over their crossed legs, but Percy could not bring himself to care.  His hands found her hips, then her thighs, and he tugged at them.  He was still too weak to pull her up himself, but Vex got the idea, clambering into his lap with her knees on either side of his hips.  Percy’s glasses knocked against her nose, and she laughed against his mouth.

 

“Do you mind?” she asked, hands raising to his temples to tug on the frames.  Then she began kissing along his jawline, which made it a bit difficult to answer.

 

“Ah--yes.  I can’t see anything right now, anyway.”

 

She lifted his glasses from his face; Percy thought she tucked them into her own pocket, but couldn’t quite tell.  “I always forget you can’t see in the dark,” she said, and kissed him again.  

 

“Are we going to talk about this?” Percy asked some time later, a little desperately.  “Not that I’m not enjoying this,” he bucked his hips against her, showing just  _ how  _ much, “but our lives are a bit...complicated at the moment.  And I would like to make sure we’re on the same page.”

 

“What page are you on, then?”

 

He could not see her, not really, but somehow Percy could  _ feel  _ exactly where her eyes were, and he looked into them as he answered.  “I love you.  We could die at any moment, either because of Thordak or Raishan turning on us or my own stupidity.  And I am...rather glad you said something first, because I could not have burdened you with this, otherwise.”

 

“You’re not a burden,” said Vex, exasperated, “and if this is going to be a speech about how bad you are for me--don’t take this the wrong way, darling, but I would rather you just stuff it.”

 

“I would never,” lied Percy.  “I think you know exactly how bad I am for you already.  What I mean to say is--I want to be with you, for however long and in whatever way that makes the both of this happy.  We can work out the rest later.”

 

“That’s the page I’m on, too,” said Vex.  She rested her forehead on his.  “Is that what we’ll tell the others?  They already know about me, after all.”

 

“Assuming your brother doesn’t kill me, yes,” said Percy.

 

“I don’t think he will.  I’ll try to talk him out of threatening you, too.”

 

“Much appreciated.”  Percy leaned up to kiss her and missed, hitting somewhere around her chin.

 

Vex laughed.  “Talk over, then?”

 

“Very much so,” Percy agreed.

 

And that was the last intelligible thing they said before Scanlan found them an hour later.


End file.
